The present invention relates to a unit intended for the application of printed slips to packets in packaging machines.
In particular, and to advantage, the invention finds application in machines for manufacturing packets of cigarettes, the field to which reference is made explicitly in the following specification albeit with no limitation implied, whilst the term “printed slip” is used to indicate a coupon, plain or folded, or a label or revenue stamp, of the kind typically associated with such packets.
Printed slips of the type in question are in most cases either cut from a continuous strip or drawn from a stack of diecuts. The machines by which the slips are applied will obviously be equipped with different feed devices according to the manner in which the slips are procured. In the case of folded coupons, in particular, these can be cut from a continuous strip folded previously along one or more longitudinal crease lines and decoiled thus from a roll, or alternately, the folding operation can be carried out at the moment when the strip is decoiled and fed to the machine.
Conventionally, a cigarette packer can be used both for the production of articles furnished with printed slips cut from a continuous strip, and for the production of articles furnished with slips procured in the form of diecuts. Obviously, given the high operating speeds and outputs of machines in use today, and the high profitability expected of them, the changeover from one type of production to another on the same packer will be economically justifiable only when the conversion of the machine from the one type of operation to the other can be accomplished in a relatively short time.
The prior art embraces packer machines equipped with devices designed to feed printed slips either from a continuous strip or from the bottom of a vertical magazine, operating in conjunction with respective devices by which the slips are picked up and applied to the packets, wherein the changeover from one type of feed system to another is effected by replacing both the feed and the pickup devices.
As a result, cigarette packers currently in use are rendered less adaptable to different types of slips and to their corresponding feed systems, and consequently less profitable.
The object of the present invention is to provide a unit for the application of printed slips in packaging machines, from which the aforementioned drawbacks can be eliminated.